Half to hoeace gbaet



(NoModeL) I. H. WESTGATE.

PROTECTOR AND STIFFENER.

No. 345,199. Patented July 6, 1886.

NY PETERS. Pholn-Lilhognpher. Wash ngton. 0. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IDA H. WESTGATE, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO HORACE GRANT, OF SAME PLACE.

PROTECTOR AND ST] FFENER,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,199, dated July 6, 1886.

{Application filed March 11, 1884. Renewed February 25, 1896. Serial No. 193,241.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IDA H. WESTGATE, of Worcester county and city, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Protectors and Stiffeners for Tearing-Apparel, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings repres'entinglike parts.

Dress-skirts are usually provided at bottom with a so-called facing, commonly of wigan, stitched within the same.

The primary object of my invention is the production of a band of material corded and stiffened along one edge, and which maybe applied to a skirt or dress to protect and stiffen it, especially at its lower edge.

The invention consists in a stiffened and waterproofed cord stitched between a folded or doubled .piece of fabric and applied to a garment in the manner hereinafter particularly set forth and claimed, to protect and stiffen the part to which it is affixed.

Figure 1 represents a portion of a dressskirt faced with a corded protector and stiffener made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows a piece of the same on a larger scale; Fig. 3, a section of the same in the line 00 m, and Fig. 4 a piece of my stiffened waterproof cord.

1n the drawings, A represents part of a dress-skirt. The protector and stiffener B is composed of apiece or band of silesia, cambric, jean, drilling, or it may ,be any water-proof materialsuch as india-rubber cloth or oiled silk, or other usual materialthe same being folded or turned over upon itself, so as to constitute two layers or thicknesses, 2 3, between which is placed two or more rows of my stiffening material, a, which is a cord stiffened with a suitable glue or gum and made water- (No model.)

proof by the application to it of india-rubber or equivalent material suitably dissolved and applied to the said cord in suitable quantities. If the fabric used for the protector is not water-proof, the waterproof cord or stiffening material will be found to be very desirable, because the cord, if not made water-proof, becomes soft when wet and shrinks and draws out of shape, thus distorting the protector and destroying the hang of the skirt. This stiffened water-proof. cord is also valuable in wearing-apparel.

In Fig. l the protector is shown attached at its lower end to the lower end of the skirt, which is turned up,while the upper end of the protector is attached to the dress-lining d, a portion of which is shown in the said figure.

I am aware that it is not new to make a skirt-protector consisting of a body of suitable material provided on one side with protruding guards made of leather, rubber, or like durable material, so arranged that when applied to a dress skirt or trail said guards will be interposed between it and the ground.

I claim The dressskirt and protector herein described, consisting of the stiffened and waterproof cords 0, extending lengthwise of the protector, so as to run parallel to the bottom of the skirt, the two thicknesses of fabric 2 3 surrounding said cords,and the lines of stitching between said cords uniting the said thicknesses of fabric, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IDA H. WESTGATE.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. NoYEs. 

